OAM VB-2+
The VB-2+ came about from my experience testing the nearly one hundred VB-2 pedals I’ve made and sent out thus far. I noticed that many of my favorite sounds came from playing with the volume on my guitar (a 2005 Les Paul Studio is my usual tester) down from its normal all-the-way up position. Even volumes down to the lowest 1/3 of the range sounded great, not usually a super usable position in most of my other experiences.
The technical reason for this is that the VB-2 circuit has a low input impedance similar to old fuzz pedals. When you turn the volume on the guitar down (and the guitar is plugged directly into the pedal) this raises the impedance that the pedal sees, and changes the way the pedal (and ultimately your playing) reacts. With fuzzes, people usually talk about the clean-up in this way: the pedal becomes more articulate, clarity increases, bass tightens, and chords become more defined. This all applies to the reaction that happens when the input volume is rolled back on the VB-2.
To accomplish this, I used the same value potentiometer that was in my tester guitar (500K audio) and put it before the VB-2 circuit. I experimented with many different pickup simulator designs, and eventually concluded that it didn’t really matter that much; that the changes were more from the change in resistance and impedance than they were from any sort of inductive reaction. To my surprise, the reaction also sounded just as good when placed anywhere in the signal chain, not just in the first position like you need to place a fuzz. Even when stacked amongst other boosts and drives, the clarity remained and I noticed it was easier to get more subtle flavors that the VB pedals bring, and to dial back just a touch of its unruliness.
To add to the functionality, I added another 500K potentiometer and an extra footswitch to easily switch between two different input volume settings. This was immediately useful in making changes on the fly on my pedal board, and found that I was changing the input volumes to adjust the sound, much more than I was changing the way that I normally like to have the VB-2 side set. With the input volume all the way up, you have the exact same sound you are used to with the original VB-2.
The VB-2+ will take you anywhere from a clean boost, light overdrive, distortion, to full on doom. You have complete control over the two transistor stages, with volume and bias controls for each one. You can run one stage hot into the other for the most distorted/compressed sound, or you can run the first one low and the last one wide open for the most clean/dynamic sound. The bias controls can be turned up past the point of sanity to create spitty, ripping effects. It may squeal at you if the settings are too intense, or cut out completely if the input is too low and the bias too high, but it makes finding the right balance totally in your hands.
See the VB-2 manual for more in-depth information that all still applies to the VB-2+. oatsandmolasses.com/vb2
Specifications:
Two Input volume settings via the left footswitch
Controls for Volume and Bias of two gain stages
Hand matched pair of transistors
100% handmade in Detroit, MI
9V-18V DC operation, power consumption less than 3mA. There is no battery option.